Mar 8, 2013

Happy Birthday, Wanda! Celebrating a Classic Children’s Author

Monday marks the 120th birthday of
Minnesota artist and children’s author Wanda Gag. Gag was the creative mind
behind the beloved Newberry Honor book, Millions
of Cats, with its memorable refrain, “Millions and billions and
trillions of cats!” Whether spinning a
tale of an invisible dog that strives for “somethingness” or translating
her own version of Grimm’s fairy tales, Gag made sure her stories contained
equal parts perfect nonsense and sly moral commentary.

As chronicled in several biographies, Gag
was a true Bohemian. Her parents emigrated from Europe and settled in the
German community of New Ulm, Minnesota near the turn of the century. Gag’s work
would later pay tribute to the Old World peasant folk she grew up with and her
rural roots. When her parents both died, teenage Wanda became caretaker of her
six brothers and sisters. But her artist father’s last request to his talented
daughter was, “What papa couldn’t do, Wanda will have to finish.”

While acting as matriarch, Gag still held dreams of
becoming an artist. She eventually attended art school and became a savvy
commercial artist, refusing to illustrate any books but her own. Sporting a
handmade dress and a smart 30s bob, Gag moved to New York, combining her
storytelling heritage and success as an artist to become the author/illustrator
of many acclaimed children’s books. While she returned home often, in later years
she lived on a rural estate in New England, called “All Creation,” where there
was plenty of room for family visits--and for her (not quite millions of) cats.

Celebrate this homegrown artist this weekend! Much
of her work is housed in the University of Minnesota’s Kerlan Collection
and at the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts. And a
special exhibition of both classic and newly revealed works will open tonight
at the Brown County Historical Society Museum in New Ulm. The opening reception
will be followed by Saturday festivities
for families. Here’s to Minnesota’s very own model of “somethingness.”
Happy birthday, Wanda!